The Power of Juan
by SonicLover
Summary: My longest story yet! Sonic and friends have finally been taken care of by Dr. Eggman, and it's up to brother and sister Juan and Shi to fix this injustice. Now THIS is something.
1. Prologue

The Power of Juan Disclaimer: ...Oh shut up.

Author's note: Sorry it's been so long since I did something on this site. Here's another fresh new story for you!

Remember when reviewing: Same as all the other stories. If you think it's good, say it's good. If you think it's bad, say it's bad. If you think mutant bananas are invading your town... I can't help you there.  
-  
Prologue -  
Dr. Eggman cackled as he relaxed on his chair. He had captured Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and even Shadow and Rouge. There seemed to be no hope for them.  
All seven of the captives were in cages designed to protect against high-strength punches, kicks, fire, Spin-Dashes, hammer blows... heck, those cages were practically impenetrable.

"If I just had a Chaos Emerald," Shadow muttered, "I could Chaos Control all of us to safety."

"Sonic," Amy said, ever worried about her boyfriend, "will we be okay?"  
"I'm not sure we will, Amy," Tails responded. "Dr. Eggman has awful plans for us. He plans to... well, even I don't know that."

It wouldn't have mattered much. Dr. Eggman walked in and explained everything.  
"What do I plan to do? I'll tell you. I'm going to vacuum your spirits right out of you, leaving your bodies lifeless, and trap them in the Chaos Emeralds, which I will scatter all over the island. Then, nothing will stop me from taking over the world!"

"I hate a guy whose ego is larger than his IQ," Rouge commented, as if the insult didn't apply to her as well.

"Well, he's right," Cream interjected. "What are we supposed to do to stop him?"  
Sonic agreed. "I hate to admit it, but Dr. Egghead might be the one who wins this time." (Eggman got really steamed when he heard that one.)

Knuckles silenced everyone. "Leave it to me. I can link with the Master Emerald and use it to summon an alternate offensive from another world to the island. Don't worry, it works wonders."  
With that, Knuckles bowed in prayer. Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, Shadow, and Rouge followed suit. Dr. Eggman snickered at their little last-minute attempt to save themselves. Little did he know that this last-minute attempt wasn't as futile as he thought.  
-  
Well, it's only a prologue. What did you expect, a 10-page essay? 


	2. The Beginning

The Power of Juan Author's note:  
Okay, Nail, you seem to be a little off. When you submitted your review, there are two key aspects you apparently overlooked. One, Juan isn't the only hero. Remember that his sister, Shi, comes into this as well. And two, the Sonic gang aren't going to be in those cages for the whole story. Reread what Dr. Eggman plans for them.  
Okay, now that that's out of the way, we can get on with the story.  
-  
Chapter 1: The Beginning -  
In case you missed it in the summary, the heroes of this story are brother and sister Juan and Shi. I guess I'd better introduce them.

Juan and Shi are fraternal twins, meaning they aren't twins in the technical sense even though they were born at the same time. They're both 14 years old, and they're both American, despite what their names might lead you to think.

Juan likes to think he's a little older than Shi, which of course isn't true. He has a bracelet around his wrist that displays four fake plastic jewels: blue, yellow, red, and black. It's not particularly boyish, but he doesn't mind.  
Shi (pronounced like the English word "she") is a little shy, but don't underestimate her. Around her right finger she has three rings, each of which displays one fake plastic jewel. One is pink, one is orange, and one is purple.

As you might expect, Juan and Shi are very fond of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They spend a lot of time competing against each other in Sonic Battle, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic Heroes, and so forth.

Okay, enough blabbering. Time to get back on track.

It was another peaceful day in the home of Juan and Shi. The two of them had just settled down for a game of Sonic Heroes. Juan picked Team Sonic, and Shi took Team Rose. Neither choice was unusual.  
What WAS unusual was what happened as they were about to start playing. The TV screen glowed brightly, and both of them were sucked in. You'd have to see it to believe it.

At that moment, their mother came in. "Juan? Shi? Where are you? It's almost time for lunch!"

Oh, if only she knew.  
-  
OOF! Juan and Shi landed in front of an altar. Juan recognized it in an instant; it was the Master Emerald shrine. Shi examined a nearby signpost while Juan approached the Master Emerald.

An audible voice echoed as if from nowhere, startling both Juan and Shi. It was Knuckles' voice.  
"This world needs all the help the two of you can bring. My friends and I have been captured by Dr. Eggman and sealed in the Chaos Emeralds, which have been scattered. You need to find us and liberate us, then vanquish him. The Master Emerald can show you where to go."

Hearing this, Juan looked at the Master Emerald. In it he saw an image of a dense forest. The words "Infinity Woods" accompanied the image.

"We need to go to Infinity Woods," Juan called to Shi. "Which way is it?"  
"According to the signpost," Shi responded, "the Woods are that way, to the east. But I want to check out Chao Fields, to the south, first."  
"Sounds good, Shi. Come on, let's go."

With that, Juan joined Shi, and the two of them set off towards Chao Fields.

The path to Chao Fields had a few Dr. Eggman robots patrolling it, but Juan had taken a few karate classes, and Shi pulled some cool attack moves with her yo-yo, and the robots were defeated quickly.  
"Wow, the doctor seems to be expecting us," Shi commented as she dusted herself off.

Eventually the duo reached Chao Fields. As the name suggested, the area was largely populated by Chao.

"Hello," Juan said, approaching one of the Chao.

"Chao! Chao chao, chao?"

Juan and Shi glanced at each other. "Your guess is as good as mine," Shi commented. "I can't believe Cream the Rabbit understands what these creatures are saying."  
"Well," Juan replied, "there isn't much to do here. Let's head for Infinity Woods." Juan and Shi went back the way they came.  
-  
What awaits Juan and Shi on their adventure? You'll find out... eventually! 


	3. Infinity Woods

The Power of Juan Author's note:  
Ah, Nail hammers this story again... (chuckle)  
Anyway, you missed a few things. I do admit that I blew it with the entry of Juan and Shi there, but I have a few answers for the other things.  
First, I admit that the whole humans-to-Sonic-world thing is a little overdone, but some people like their meat a little overdone. (Sorry about the bad joke, but I think the message has been conveyed.)  
And the destruction of Eggman's robots? Well, you know how fragile those things are. If a robot can be shattered into a million pieces just by somersaulting into it, having a Chao ram it, or smacking it with a fishing line, I don't see why some karate moves and yo-yo tricks can't do the job.  
Dr. Eggman not wiping out Sonic and friends? Since you took that part back, I'll not elaborate.  
And one more thing. Pay attention to the set-up. What makes you think Juan and Shi won't rescue Sonic and his pals one by one? I'll let slip right now that Cream will be the first to be freed.  
(ahem) On with the story!  
-  
Chapter 2: Infinity Woods -  
"Sure is creepy here," Shi said as she and her brother trudged through the forest. "I wonder why they call these the Infinity Woods."  
"Don't know," Juan responded. "You wait here. I'll explore a little and see if I can find anything of interest."

As Juan walked off to the north, Shi looked around. The forest was very spooky, and had a mysterious feel to it. Every five or so seconds, lightning struck in the distance.  
Someone emerged from the dense woods to the south. It was Juan! Both siblings were startled by this.

"Hey!" Juan exclaimed. "I said to wait back there!"  
"I've been standing here the whole time," Shi retorted. "Your sense of direction is screwy."

As an experiment, Juan picked up a rock and tossed it as hard as he could into the dense woods. About a second later, the same rock flew out of the forest and clocked him from behind.

Juan and Shi quickly determined that they were literally getting nowhere. They needed to go in the right directions. What WERE the right directions, though?

At that moment, Juan noticed this engraving on a nearby tree stump: "The path of truth will be revealed to those who approach the flashes."  
"See how the lightning keeps flashing?" Shi deduced. "I think we're supposed to follow it."

Juan agreed, and the two dashed a good distance toward the next flash of lightning. This part of the forest looked different than the last, so they had to be getting somewhere.  
The two siblings alternated between running a few steps in the direction of the last flash of lightning and watching for the next flash, and eventually they reached a clearing.

"Curious clearing," Shi commented. "Must be something important here." Juan's response to this was a big "DUH".  
In the middle of the clearing was a suspicious-looking flat rock. It took the combined strength of both siblings to move it, but when they did, a big hole was revealed. Not knowing what else to do, Juan and Shi jumped in.  
-  
Well, that wraps things up for this chapter, but expect more! 


	4. The Haunted Cave

The Power of Juan Author's note:  
Nail isn't bending at all. Let me look at what you've written.  
I'll have Juan and Shi discuss one of the points you mentioned, the one about the weak robots.

The second point is a bit apt, as I tend to have trouble conveying emotions. I tried to get something done with the way Juan and Shi yelled at each other after the former emerged from the woods and found the latter in the wrong place.

As for the third...  
Not providing a lot of detail has always been a bit of a problem of mine. It's docked me several points in high school with my journal entries and the essay questions on tests. Maybe a job as a world-class journalist isn't in my future (laugh). For some reason, however, the two-paragraph "demonstration" you made out of that line just doesn't fit my writing style. Perhaps my writing style is short.  
Tell you what, though. Pick any chapter from any one of my stories, and give it the same treatment you gave that one line. After that, e-mail it to me (DON'T give it to me in a review). I'll look over it and tell you what I think.

And don't worry, I promise that this story will exceed twenty, excuse me, two thousand words before it's half over.

Well, on with the story. You, Nail, may be my only reviewer, but as long as it's someone, I don't mind.  
And don't worry, I promise the chapter itself will be longer than this review.  
-  
Chapter 4: The Haunted Cave -  
OOF! Juan and Shi landed on a large stone tile. Looking around, the two noticed that they were in a cave that was even darker than the woods above. Shi could barely see her hand in front of her face.  
Luckily for both of them, Shi's yo-yo was a glow-in-the-dark model. She took it out of her pocket and led the way, with Juan trailing nervously behind.

"Say, Juan," Shi asked as they walked together, "did you notice how weak those robots back on the path to Chao Fields were? They were so pitiful, it's like they were meant to be broken!"  
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Juan responded. "I think Dr. Egghead is trying to test us. As we progress, he's going to use stronger and stronger robots, and by seeing when we start to have difficulties, he'll know just how strong we are. That's my theory."

Shi shuddered at the thought that she was being tested. At that moment, a few more Dr. Eggman robots emerged from the darkness. They were quickly dispatched, despite that they were a little stronger than the ones near Chao Fields.

"Point proven, I suppose," Shi mentioned.

"On another note," Juan added, "do you think that yo-yo is going to provide enough light to get us to wherever whoever we're looking for is?"  
"Don't panic," Shi replied. "I charged it up just recently. It'll be some time before it g-"  
Before Shi could finish her sentence, her yo-yo ceased to shine, and the area was plunged into almost complete darkness once more.

"Note to self," Shi muttered, "the yo-yo always needs to be charged up for a longer period of time than the package claims. Now how are we supposed to see where we're going?"

Both siblings noticed a flicker of light in the distance, and they rushed toward it. A ghostly voice stopped them dead in their tracks.  
"Oooooooooooo... turn back..."

"It's just a dumb tape recorder set up to scare us off," Shi decided. "That doctor is getting lamer and lamer."

Noticing another flicker from the same location as the last one, Juan rushed ahead, and fell directly into a large body of water. Underground lake? Big puddle? Subterranean stream? It was too dark to tell.  
"I am SO glad these clothes are wash and wear," Juan sputtered as he climbed out.

The light source flickered again. It was close by. Shi approached it and picked it up.  
"What is it?" Juan asked.  
Shi looked at it. "It's some kind of lantern. Kind of creepy, though. Call me crazy, but it feels as if this lantern is lit by ghost power."  
"Ghost power or not," Juan decided, "this lantern should be able to provide a light source so we can see around here."

Juan took the lantern and clipped it to his bracelet. "Come on, let's look around."

The first thing they noticed was that the body of water Juan had just fallen into was an underground stream. A gate diverted the water over a small waterfall.  
Spotting a lever nearby, Shi gave it a heave, and the gate changed position. The water now ran into a pipe that led to the stone tile under the cave entrance.

After the water was diverted, the stone tile began to shake and rumble. Without warning, a geyser under the tile blew it clear up to the surface of the woods.  
The tile dropped back down. Then, it was blown back up again. This procedure repeated itself in a seemingly indefinite manner. It was rather entertaining to watch, but Juan and Shi had other things to worry about.

Diverting the water also revealed a rock wall where the waterfall used to be. The rockiness of the wall made it quite suitable for climbing. Not knowing where else to go, Juan and Shi climbed down.  
As they climbed, what seemed to be a ghostly spirit passed by them, nearly causing Shi to lose her grip. They dismissed it as the wind and continued to the bottom.

In this room of the cave, a stream rushed down a path and through a grate. A series of gates led the stream to this destination.  
There were several other paths that the stream could take if the gates were arranged differently. All these paths were dried up, and one had a waterwheel at the end.  
Juan pulled and pushed the levers until the water was diverted to the waterwheel. As the waterwheel turned, it powered a transport lift across a dark pit nearby.

Another ghostly voice interrupted them: "Oooooo... go no further..."  
"OH SHUT UP," Shi yelled.

After this short outburst, Juan and Shi took the transport lift to another stream-and-gate puzzle. For this one, the stream was deeper, so it couldn't be crossed until it was drained.  
Juan yanked a lever, diverting the stream so that it powered another waterwheel. Another transport lift started up, but they couldn't get to it because the stream was blocking the way.  
Sighing, Juan reset the lever, stopping the lift and draining the stream, and crossed to the other side with Shi. The only problem was that there was no lever on this side, and the lever on the other side was a bit distant.  
Now it was Shi's turn to shine. She used her yo-yo to lasso the lever, and tripped it from afar. The seemingly insoluble puzzle was solved, and Juan and Shi could use the next transport lift.

There were several more stream-and-gate puzzles to be solved in the cave. For one, Juan and Shi had to direct water from three streams into a reservoir so it would flood and gush water over another waterwheel.  
At some points, more ghostly spirits and spooky voices tried to deter Juan and Shi. They weren't scared, though. The two siblings bravely pressed on. A few more robots got in the way as well, but they weren't much of a problem either.

(Author's note: Sorry about the big skip. I didn't want to bore readers by describing all the puzzles, battles and ghost encounters one by one.)

Eventually all these annoying puzzles were solved, and Juan and Shi reached the last part of the cave. A Chaos Emerald stood on a pedestal in the back.  
Juan slowly approached the pedestal, but this wasn't going to be as easy as it looked. The ceiling rumbled, and a HUGE robot dropped into the room, piloted by none other than Dr. Eggman himself!

Dr. Eggman filled the room with his trademark evil laugh. "You two must be very brave to have come this far without turning back," he said. "Witness this powerful piece of machinery, the Egg Digger!"  
Shi tried to make a dash for the Emerald, but Dr. Eggman's entrance had covered the pedestal in a mound of dirt. They had no choice. The two siblings would have to defeat the Egg Digger if they were ever going to get their hands on the Emerald.  
-  
Coming up next: The Egg Digger Battle! Grab some popcorn! 


	5. The Egg Digger

The Power of Juan

Author's note:  
Wow. That's dedication. Nail Strafer went to the trouble of rewriting Chapter 3 of this story so that it was three pages long. I can't type out the whole thing here, but here's a portion of it:

_He started walking off into the thick undergrowth, and before long he was out of sight. All Shi could hear was the noise of the brush being pushed aside now. However, that faded quickly too. Now she felt truly alone, and she really didn't like being all by herself in a place like this. However, there wasn't much she could do to deal with it, apart from finding something to think about. Unfortunately...her brain didn't seem to want to concentrate on any subject apart from how much she wanted out of here._

I could get jumped from behind by a monster in the dark, she thought. Or get bitten by a snake hiding in the fog beneath my feet, or get attacked by the giant or whatever who's making all that thunderous noise. I have to wonder, why is it called the Infinity Woods? None of the stuff we've seen so far seems to have anything to do with infinity…

_"Hey!" someone screamed behind her._

Shi gasped and toppled over backwards. She started crawling backwards along the ground, trying to get away from whatever it was had yelled at her. Her back collided with a tree stump, and she stopped. Now that she was sitting still, she looked at who had yelled and saw that it was her brother Juan.

But that's impossible! He went north when he left me, and now he's coming up behind from the south.__

"I thought you were gonna wait back there..." Juan said. He folded his arms. "Why'd you change your mind?"

"I didn't! I've been standing here the whole time!"

"That doesn't make any sense...I walked in a straight line from where I left you..."

That Nail is good, huh? Well, on with the story.  
-  
Chapter 4: The Egg Digger -

"Look at that monstrous Egg Digger!" Shi whispered to Juan. "How are we going to defeat him?"  
"Easy," Juan whispered back. "All Dr. Eggman boss creations like this one are weak in one area in particular: the windshield. Watch and learn."

With those words, Juan took a running start and nailed the windshield with a really powerful karate kick.

The windshield wasn't even scratched.

Dr. Eggman cackled. "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to give the Egg Digger such a weak windshield that it could be destroyed in eight or so whacks?"  
"Why not?" Shi responded. "You did every other time."

The doctor responded to this comment by pulling a lever. A detachable, radio-controlled drill flew at Shi, who jumped back just in time to avoid getting torn to pieces.

Meanwhile, Juan got an idea. He climbed up on the windshield and banged on it, not causing any damage but causing a lot of noise.  
"Stop that infernal banging!" Shi yelled, covering her ears. "You're breaking my concentration!"

The banging was also disturbing Eggman, who fired the next detachable radio-controlled drill at Juan. Juan jumped out of the way, and the drill smashed into the windshield.  
The windshield got a **big** crack in it.

Dr. Eggman flew into a rage. "Why you! Look what you've done to my glorious Egg Digger! You'll pay for this!"

Noticing a water pipe on the ceiling, Shi aimed her yo-yo at it. Hooking on perfectly, she swung around and around the Egg Digger.  
Seeing how much of a nuisance Shi was, Eggman tried to drill her. Juan karate-chopped the drill out of its flight path just in time, though, and it lost control and drilled the Egg Digger's windshield again.

"I've got an idea!" Shi yelled to Juan. "Quick, climb up!"  
On her next pass, Juan jumped and grabbed Shi's foot. As Juan climbed, Shi whispered something in his ear.  
"A bit risky, I suppose," Juan replied, "but it's worth a try."

Finally Juan reached the water pipe Shi was swinging from. He yanked a section of pipe loose, drenching the area below- and the Egg Digger- in a LOT of water.  
Eggman laughed again. "That's supposed to foil me? I compensated for that too. The outside of the Egg Digger is completely rust-proof and waterpr…"

The sentence was not finished. The Egg Digger was short-circuited all over. A reasonable amount of water had gotten through the cracked windshield and reached the controls, which Eggman had not bothered to protect.

At last, the Digger exploded. When the dust cleared, Juan dropped down to investigate. Dr. Eggman was nowhere to be found. He had escaped at the last second.  
The explosion had also blown away the dirt that had covered the Chaos Emerald's pedestal. Shi dropped down and approached it.  
"It's… I don't believe it… it's a real Chaos Emerald!" Shi exclaimed in awe. "Stand back, Juan, I'm going to take it off its pedestal!"  
-  
Chaos Emerald, indeed… but you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out what happens when Shi takes it! 


	6. Cream

The Power of Juan

Author's note: Feedback schmeedback. I'm anxious to make another chapter to this story, so that's what I'm going to do!  
-  
Chapter 5: Cream -  
Nervously Shi put her hands around the green Chaos Emerald. Then, all at once, in one motion, she grabbed the Emerald and raised it above her head.  
Had there been any sources of light in the room other than Juan's lantern, the light shining through the Emerald would've made a pretty picture.

The whole spectacle was interrupted when an audible voice reached the ears of Juan and Shi.  
_"You must be Juan and Shi. The two of you are very brave,"_ the voice said. _"You have gotten so far, and I am proud of you."_

Juan blinked. "Hey, whose voice is that? Can't be Knuckles' voice, and I don't think it's Amy's voice either… it's too high."  
_"I'd better tell you,"_ the voice responded. _"I'm Cream. Cream the Rabbit. I can't doubt that you know who I am."_  
Shi snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah! Cream!"

"I can't see you," Juan interrupted. "Where are you?"  
_"That's a little difficult to answer,"_ came the response. _"You're listening to my spiritual essence, which has been separated from my body and trapped inside this Chaos Emerald, as Knuckles told you earlier."_

Shi didn't miss a beat. "So, if I break the Emerald, you'll be free?"  
_"Exactly. Go ahead, break it!"_  
"Right away, Cream. Hey, Juan! Catch!"

Shi threw the Chaos Emerald up in the air and spiked it at Juan, who met it with a karate kick that knocked it into the wall behind Shi, shattering it.

"Watch it!" Shi yelled. "You nearly smacked me in the eye!"

Before Juan could respond, something came out of the fragments of the Emerald and flew toward Shi, embedding itself in her.  
"What was that?" both siblings exclaimed at the same time.  
Cream's voice rang out again. _"I have united with Shi, so that I can help her. Do not fear."_

At that moment, Juan noticed something about one of Shi's rings, the orange one. The fake jewel now displayed an image of Cream. Juan quickly pointed this out to Shi, who noticed it as well.

_"Ah, you've noticed. I did that just to remind you of me."_  
Shi was still confused a little. "And how exactly do you intend to help me?"  
_"If you touch that fake jewel while concentrating your thoughts on me, you'll transform to look like me. You will also be able to use some of my abilities. Go on, try it!"_  
Without hesitation, Shi did as she was told. There was a flash of light, and Shi had united with Cream. She still had her own bodily proportions, but her overall appearance was now like Cream's. (Think of the Soul Unisons from MMBN4 and you'll know what I'm talking about.)

_"Now it should be easy for you to understand the Chao. You can also use a weak but fast and multi-hitting Ear Whip move."_  
"Pretty nice," Shi said, "but how do I go back to normal?"  
_"Just touch the rim of one of your rings while concentrating on your own skill."_  
Without questioning what she was told, Shi did this, and reverted to how she was before.

_"Now do you understand how I can help?"_  
"Perfectly," Shi replied, "but I have one more question. What about the Chaos Emerald fragments?"  
_"Don't worry about them. Eggman won't have much use for them, nor will you."_

Shi was now satisfied. "Well, okay. But how do we get out of here?"  
Juan gestured at the abyss that they had crossed with the last transport lift. There was a cable for one last transport lift, but it wasn't active.  
Beside the abyss was a column. Several lights ran from bottom to top. The column appeared to be some kind of switch.

Shi approached the column and gave it a good yo-yo smack. The bottom light turned green, then quickly faded. Juan kicked the column, and the same thing happened.  
Even when Juan and Shi alternated hitting the column, they couldn't hit it rapidly enough to get the lights lit quickly enough.

Then Shi smacked her forehead. "Duh! Why am I so stupid?"  
Shi united with Cream again, stood beside the column, and spun in circles, ear-whipping the column again and again and again.  
The lights quickly reached the top of the column, and stayed. One last transport lift started up, and approached Juan and Shi, who hopped on and rode to the other side. On the way, Shi reverted to normal.

Not surprisingly, the lift dropped Juan and Shi off near the entrance. The stone tile was still being blasted up and down by the geyser that Shi created earlier.  
"Going up?" Juan asked jokingly.  
Both siblings climbed onto the stone tile as soon as it landed, and when it was next blasted up, they both climbed onto solid ground.

"Well, we're back at the surface," Juan commented, "but how do we get out of this stupid forest without getting trapped in another loop?"  
"That way," Shi responded, pointing.  
"How can you be so sure it's that way?"  
"There's an exit sign right there."

Juan took another look. "Oh. So there is. Come on, let's move!"  
After saying those words, Juan took Shi's hand and rushed into the forest in the direction the sign pointed.  
-  
Cool, huh? What's next? You'll find out… as soon as I get some feedback… or I get tired of waiting… whichever comes first. 


	7. Second Journey

The Power of Juan

Author's note: Okay, I admit, I don't have a lot of patience. I wonder what Nail's doing at the moment. I haven't heard from him for about half a week.  
-  
Chapter 6: Second Journey -  
"Come on," Shi said as soon as the two of them had exited the dense woods. "Let's head back to the Master Emerald shrine so we can plot a course to our next destination."  
"Roger," Juan replied, and they dashed off.

It took quite a bit of footwork, but they both reached the Master Emerald shrine without trouble. They approached the Master Emerald together, and looked at it.

"So, uh, where do we go next?" Juan asked the Emerald. No response.  
"Hello? Anyone there?" Shi added. Still no response.

Juan and Shi glanced at each other. "I think we need to show it that we rescued Cream," Shi decided.

Leaving those words in the air, Shi united with Cream, and looked at the Master Emerald again.

_Gee… the Master Emerald is so impressive… and the way the light shines through it is so pretty… Knuckles must like admiring it… I wonder if it's okay if I touch it…_

Shi quickly shook these thoughts out of her head. It appeared that being united with Cream was beginning to affect her thinking style. She reverted back to normal to prevent more interference, since the Master Emerald was already beginning to resonate with power.  
There was a flash of light, and an image began to form inside the Master Emerald. This time, it displayed a snow-covered area with all kinds of winter fixings.  
"Trail of Winter," Shi read, noticing the words that formed near the image. "Juan, check the signpost and see if you can find it."  
Juan dashed down the altar's stairs and examined the signpost. "Got it," he finally said. "It's south of here, through Chao Fields. Let's go."

Shi came down to join Juan, and they both strolled down the path to Chao Fields. Once again, they fought off the robots that blocked the path. Apparently Eggman had bothered to replace them.  
Just as they were approaching Chao Fields, Shi united with Cream so she could understand what the Chao were saying.

"Hello," Shi said to one of the Chao.  
"Hello. Is there a reason you came here?"  
Shi balked. "J-Juan, that Chao just spoke to me in English!"  
"You're nuts," Juan replied. "It sounded like normal Chao speak to me."  
"Well, I know I heard English. I guess this is how I can understand what they're saying."

As Juan and Shi looked around, Juan approached a gate at the far end of Chao Fields. According to a nearby sign, this was the way to the Trail of Winter. The gate was blocked by a lonely-looking Chao.  
Shi approached this Chao and asked it to move so she and her brother could get by.  
"I would," the Chao responded, "but I'm really hungry. Could you get me a Chao hexagon fruit? Those are my favorite."  
"Got it," Shi responded. "One Chao hexagon fruit coming up!"

Juan glanced at Shi.  
As if Juan had asked, Shi said, "He says that he'll move if we fetch him a Chao hexagon fruit. I think they're growing somewhere in the fields."

Without hesitation, Juan started checking nearby trees. One of them had some cute hexagonal fruits hanging in the branches. Try as he might, Juan couldn't shake any down.  
Juan called Shi over, and Shi ear-whipped the tree, knocking a few good fruits to the ground. Juan caught one, then another bonked him on the head.  
It didn't take long for Juan to recover from the mild concussion. He made the delivery, the Chao moved, and the two siblings continued on their way to the Trail of Winter.  
-  
More to come! 


	8. Dialogue

The Power of Juan

Author's note: It's Nail again, and he's no longer pounding this story as hard as he used to. My writing style is improving, eh? Well, I don't know what was wrong with it that I corrected. Can you tell me, so I can keep doing it?  
And the way the story feels like a video game, well, I just can't help it. I have a hard time making the story anything to the contrary. I tried to bend away from the video game stuff when I expressed Shi's train of thought while they were standing in front of the Master Emerald again, though.  
Well, on with the story. Although I'd better mention that this chapter, uh, displays my humorous side. A little humor never hurt anyone.  
-  
Chapter 7: Dialogue -

As Juan and Shi approached the Trail of Winter, Shi stopped Juan. "Look, there's an information booth right over there. Let's check it out."  
Juan agreed, and they ran up to the front window of the booth. The booth was run by a 12-year-old boy with light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Welcome to the Trail of Winter," the boy said. "My name's Sam. Sam Noel. What brings you here?"  
"I'm Juan," Juan responded, "and Shi is next to me."

This confused Sam a little. "Come again?"  
"Shi's right next to me."  
"Well, who is she?"  
"Shi's the girl right here!"  
"I know that, but what's her name?"  
"She's Shi!"  
"She is she? That's obvious, but who is she?"  
"I told you, this is Shi!"  
"Just tell me her name! What's wrong with you?"  
"That's what I've been doing! Don't you understand English?"  
"I understand English perfectly! You're just talking nonsense!"

The conversation went in circles until Shi got sick of it and decided to put an end to the whole thing.  
"Stop, you two!" she interjected. "Sam, I'm Shi. S-H-I. Shi. That's my name. You get it now?"  
"I hope that doesn't happen every time someone tries to introduce you," Sam quipped, and all three of them laughed for a few seconds. "Now, as I asked earlier, what brings you here?"

"We came here because we believe there's a Chaos Emerald somewhere in the area," Juan explained.  
Sam smirked. "I did see someone carry what looked like a Chaos Emerald in there. I didn't see what he did with it, though."

Shi posed another question: "How come it's winter here, but nowhere near winter elsewhere?"  
"There's a special weather regulator beside the trail that keeps it snowing. You can see it about a third of a mile down the trail. You can't miss it, it's got a satellite dish on top."

"Anything else?"  
"Well, if you go down the trail in THOSE clothes, you'll freeze to death. It's a good thing I provide rental winter clothes here. Since the two of you are looking for the Emerald, they're on me."  
"How will clothes you're wearing keep us warm?"  
Sam quickly caught his mistake. "What I meant was that you wouldn't have to pay for them."

Juan and Shi took the clothes Sam handed them, put them on, and started to walk down the Trail of Winter.  
"I hope nobody saw all that," Sam muttered as Juan and Shi left. "I wouldn't want that visit to turn up in an Abbott and Costello flick."  
-  
And thus went one of the strangest conversations Sam had ever been engaged in. I appreciate your feedback! 


	9. Trail of Winter

The Power of Juan

Author's note: The last chapter was a little devoid of content, so I made two in a row to make up for it. Nothing more to say.  
-  
Chapter 8: Trail of Winter -

Everything was very calm on the Trail of Winter. At least, it WAS calm, until Juan and Shi came down the trail, wearing the winter clothes that Sam had lent to them.  
Shi loved playing in snow, and before long she was romping all over while Juan continued walking without seeming to notice a thing. WHAP! Shi hit Juan with a snowball, knocking his hat off.

"Shi, would you quit fooling around?" Juan complained as he went to fetch his hat. "We've got a Chaos Emerald to find!"  
Sighing, Shi calmed down. "I never get to have any fun," she muttered. "Oh, well. Maybe I can play later."

For a moment, the area grew silent, except for the crunching footsteps Juan and Shi made as they walked through the snow. Then, some of Dr. Eggman's robots attacked. One of them was made to look like a penguin, and two others looked like snowmen.  
Juan and Shi prepared for battle almost instantly. Shi united with Cream and leaped forward to ear-whip the snowman robots while Juan took care of the penguin.  
The threat was quickly taken care of. Shi reverted to normal after the robots were done with. For some reason, Shi's transforming didn't disturb her winter clothes.

A short distance down the trail from that, the weather regulator came into view. A side path led up to it, but it was blocked by a gate in a big fence.  
Juan tried the gate; it was locked. A sign on the gate said:

TRAIL OF WINTER  
WEATHER REGULATOR  
This area is off limits to visitors.  
Staff, see me for the key.  
-S. Noel

"Guess we can't go in there," Shi commented. "It's a shame. I wanted to see what it was like in there. Maybe we should come back later."

Not too far after that, Juan and Shi noticed that someone had built a snowman. It proved to be a real snowman, not a robot like the others. Just for a little practice, Juan karate-kicked the snowman's head off, causing it to topple over.  
Before Shi could say a thing, she noticed something where the snowman had been. The snowman had been built over a large X on the ground. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that something was buried there. It was a pity that Juan and Shi had no method of digging.

After a while of walking, the siblings reached a large pit in the ground. On the other side of the pit, a Chaos Emerald glimmered on its pedestal.  
The size of the pit made it out of the question to cross without any kind of bridge, or to jump down and climb up the other side. Time seemed to stop for a moment.

Then, Juan noticed that the snow was beginning to melt. The temperature was rising, and fast. Juan and Shi dashed back to Sam's information booth to find out what was going on.  
Sam greeted them enthusiastically. "Am I glad to see you two! You know Dr. Eggman, right? He's sabotaged the weather regulator, and stationed robots all over the place! I can't do anything with all the robots around, but do you think you do better?"  
"No problem," Shi responded. "Can we have the key?"  
Sam reached behind the desk and tossed the key to Juan. "Take it, and do something, or this Trail of Winter's going to be a Trail of Summer!"  
-  
Turn of events, eh? Well, stay tuned! 


End file.
